Four sons, one son-in-law, and five grandsons are reason enough to be concerned about the plague of pornography that is so available on our computers, “smart” phones, tablets, and every other devise that can access the internet. Because of the availability, addictions can be developed and fed almost any time and anywhere.

Several years ago my husband worked as a public defender. Many of his clients had committed heinous sexual crimes, and of these clients, many admitted that their addiction to pornography played a major role in advancing their actions. My husband repeatedly warned our sons to avoid pornography at all costs. “Crash the computer if you must.” “Immediately flip the channel, or turn off the television.” “When you see it, you will know it.” “Avoid it like the sickness and disease that it is.”

Fast forward ten years, and my oldest son is in medical school. It soon became obvious that his roommates’ fathers didn’t have the same conversation with their sons. Our son would often enter his apartment to find not only his male roommates, but also several of their female friends watching graphic pornographic videos. Playboy magazines were always lying around the apartment. We could only hope and pray that our warnings and counsel helped hold our son strong in each situation he encountered.

I often wondered what kind of doctors these young men would become. When their “entertainment” focused on something so degrading to women, how could their education and their lives develop unimpeded in an upward and positive direction? I’m sure they would have argued that it was simply an entertaining past-time pursuit and that there would be no negative consequence. But statistics, studies, and observing the destroyed lives and relationships of those who are caught in the web of pornographic addiction are all proof that they would be naïve and sadly mistaken to make such an argument.

“Pornography has been linked to unrealistic attitudes about sex, beliefs that women are sex objects, more frequent thoughts about sex, and children and young people who view pornography tend to hold less progressive gender role attitudes.”

Years ago I read the book, “A War We Must Win” by John Harmer. The war he references is the war against pornography. If there are naysayers to the harmful effects of pornography this book with all its references would be a must read. I recently read a comment by “Jefe,” a reader of Harmer’s book whose evaluation is verbalized well.

Jefe, writes:

…Mr Harmer is…very well acquainted with numberless persons with shattered lives because of this insidious addiction…. The book itself explains how something that has always been considered abhorent, repugnant, or in any other way offensive to what should be “common decency” has been able to survive and thrive under constitutional protection and other legal tricks. It leaves no doubt that this form of “entertainment” is no less destructive than addictive drugs, but is in reality more destructive because it is dealt in subtlety and craftiness, disguised and packaged as entertainment. Mr. Harmer makes a point to demonstrate that porn is promoted through a gradual desensitization of society through currently acceptable forms of entertainment,…

According to Rabbi Shmuley, pornography is incredibly harmful and destructive to marriages. Pornography subtlety undermines male respect for women by detaching a woman’s personality from her body, reducing her to a mere sexual commodity, he says. This in turn bores men and leads to dissatisfaction with their own wives and an inability to create a fulfilling, authentic sex life based on mutual respect for their female counterparts…. “The principle sin of porn is not one of commission but omission. All the erotic energy that should be focused on the woman in your life is being wasted. Your eroticism is being punctured, leaving your relationship boring and predictable.”

All these years I have been concerned about pornography ruining the lives of my sons and grandsons. The more I educate myself to its tentacles of destruction, the more I worry for my daughter, daughters-in-law and granddaughters. Their lives are just as precious, and they would be the innocent victims if the men in their lives succumb to this evil. This is a war worthy of our every effort…it is the war we must win.

How can we take a stand?

1. When you see it, you will know it. Walk into stores that display it. Calmly talk to the manager. He will most likely tell you that his hands are tied. So write to the corporate offices. Encourage like-minded men and women to also write.

2. Talk to your children. Warn them. I have read and heard several times that we should start warning our children as young as 7 and 8 about this issue. How sad is that?

3. Get filters on all computers, and make sure these computers are always placed in rooms with lots of traffic flow.

4. Collect all smart phones and tablets at night. Your children won’t need them after everyone has retired to their rooms…right?

These are just four suggestions. Again, when you see pornography, you will know it. Don’t ignore it. Take a stand! And know that I, for one, will be fighting along side of you.

Parents did you know that the ACLU has launched a campaign they call, “Don’t Filter Me”? They are asking students across the nation to check out five websites at their schools to see if they are filtering them and then to report back to the ACLU.

These websites are not necessarily sexually explicit. But the ACLU had more to this agenda then to get schools to allow just these five websites.

When the ACLU asked the Camdenton School District in Missouri to allow these websites, the school said they would. However, this school district’s filter blocks all sexually explicit websites. That means that a number of other LGBT websites with sexually explicit material were automatically blocked.

So what did the ACLU do? They joined in a federal lawsuit with some LGBT organizations whose websites are blocked by the filter– Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbian and Gays (PFLAG), the Matthew Shepard Foundation, Campus Pride, and DignityUSA, a Catholic LGBT organization—to get rid of the sexuality filter the school used. That is the filter that blocks thousands of pornographic, obscene and explicit websites on school computers.

According to the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), ”the ACLU got the judge to buy in. She held that blocking the websites was unconstitutional ‘viewpoint’ discrimination and stated: the filtering software ‘allows’ access to websites expressing a negative view toward LGBT individuals by categorizing them as ‘religion’, but filters out positive viewpoints toward LGBT issues by categorizing them as ‘sexuality’.”

Again siding with the ACLU the judge stated that there was “direct evidence” that the school “intentionally” discriminated against this “viewpoint”. The direct evidence was that one school official wanted parental consent before students were allowed to view these websites.

What do this federal judge and the ACLU want your children to know about? David Cortman of the ADF gives a couple minor examples:

Let’s look at just a few of these “positive viewpoints” that were being blocked.

These websites include, among other things, recommended books for children to read. Dr. Seuss, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Percy Jackson? Not quite. How about Reflections of a Rock Lobster that talks about first graders having serial homosexual encounters in school restrooms. Or Queer 13 which includes a thirteen year old having a graphic, violent homosexual encounter with an adult in a school restroom. For obvious reasons, I will not go on. Suffice it to say that many other sites that the “sexuality” filter used to block also feature photographs, “how to” guides, and a host of sexually inappropriate materials.

Parents, do you know what websites your children have access to while at school? Please get involved in your local school. The loud voice of the ACLU should not be the only voice that is heard in determining what websites the schools must allow.

Did you know that 38 percent of kids under 18 with a cell phone have a Smartphone? Do you feel confident that you know what your children are viewing? If you think that you do, you just may well be wrong. For example, have you looked at the app stores recently for the Android phones? It is overflowing with pornographic apps. Apple has been attempting to rid the iPhone of easy and unintentional access to porn for about three years now – with varying levels of success. Although some of the Smartphones claim to be equipped with parental controls that allow the parent to decide what their children can or cannot download or use, there are plenty of kids who find ways to “beat the system.”

Sometimes the disgusting content comes looking for your child in the form of pop-up ads, as was the case with a young Colorado child who was using a coloring app when she accidently clicked on a porn ad and got an eyeful. Purchasing the app maybe the only way you can protect your child from this type of assault.

What about Smartphone filters?

Net Nanny is releasing filters for the Android devices the first of Feburary and then for the iPhone and other Apple devices in March. They have free-trials available. More info here. There’s also the free filter for iPhone that you can get at K-9 Web Protector. There are numerous other products available to protect your child, but do your homework. Many of them meet with mixed reviews.

We at UFI make no claim in understanding the ins and outs of Smartphone use, but we want to remind parents that protecting our children from questionable content is something that deserves our full attention. If you readers have ideas on good filters and other suggestions on this topic, help us all by sharing.

What is this world coming to? Do we have to view pornographic images everywhere we go? Are there not family friendly environments anymore?

I am not one who is usually easy to anger – but I am angry! I am so tired of being exposed to pornography when I am out in public areas such as at the gym, retail stores, or restaurants. Today I went into one of my favorite restaurants to have lunch, and while I was standing in line, a huge television screen is showing girls in g-strings walking on the beach and zooming in on the girl’s “buttocks”. I was mortified and quickly thought how thankful I was that my husband and teenage boys were not with me. I purposely choose to not go into restaurants such as Hooters to avoid the sexualization – and here I am watching a naked girl on the screen in a family friendly restaurant – how did this happen?

How did our society get so desensitized, that a restaurant chain feels comfortable showing these images while customers wait in line to be served food? Is this madness or what? Less than ten years ago these images were mainly found beneath a covered Playboy magazine at the local gas station – and now we are viewing them in family friendly restaurants!

A similar experience happened several years back when I withdrew my membership at a local “family friendly” gym because I was so infuriated and disgusted by the fact that during workouts the facility would show what I would classify as R or X-rated music videos on a wall screen visible to the majority of the facility. I asked the facility to reconsider showing the videos as there were many what the world calls “conservative” moms and also many children and teenagers that frequented the facility. Once I realized that the videos would not be removed, I withdrew my membership and went to another chain that did not have pornographic images in view. I wrote a letter to the facility specifically detailing why I left. I know that many others disagreed with the music videos, but chose to look the other way and not take a stand.

I call upon all concerned citizens to take a stand! Of course it is easier to not say anything or to just look the other way – but look where that is getting us. Pretty soon we won’t be able to even go into restaurant chains to buy our kids a happy meal without viewing pornography. We have to speak up and withdraw our patronage when appropriate.

Today I came right home from the restaurant and emailed my concern about the video being shown. If the restaurant chooses to continue showing the video, not only will I stop patronizing their restaurant, but I will work through family friendly organizations, such as United Families to alert other customers about the indecency of the video and to petition for others to not support such restaurants.

A 10-year battle over whether to create .XXX online domain name ended last week with ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) announcing the formal creation of a “virtual red-light district.” The domain .XXX now takes its place alongside .com and .org and .net As of last summer there were 110,000 pornographers who had pre-reservations for their space on .XXX

Supporters say the domain will make it easier to filter out inappropriate content and better allow those in the pornography business to police themselves. Stuart Lawley of ICM insists it would be a “win win situation” for the adult entertainment providers, consumers of adult entertainment, and parents who wish to protect their children from adult content on the internet.

When the idea for the domain was first discussed it was thought that pornographers would be required to solely use .XXX, but ICANN announced early on that pornographers would be allowed to keep their .com or .net addresses. Pornographers have now just picked up another way to peddle their “products.”

“My concern about .xxx is that it could give parents a false sense of security. True, it would be very easy to configure browsers or filters to automatically block sites designated as .xxx, but since this is a voluntary program, there would be nothing to stop adult site operators from also using .com. It would be like setting up a red-light district in a community while also allowing adult entertainment establishments to operate in residential shopping centers.” – Larry Magid, Internet Safety Advocate

To read a detail explanation of the reasons why .XXX is dangerous and violates obscenity laws, go here.

The domain could be present on the web as early as this spring. There are an estimated 370 million porn websites on the internet which means that .XXX could become even larger than the internet domain .com

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Department of Justice is not enforcing obscenity laws. One pro-family group is reporting that Holder has even quietly shut down the “Obscenity Prosecution Task Force.” Whatever the case, obscenity is not being prosecuted – there has not been a federal indictment for obscenity in two years.

Please join with U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Representative Randy Forbes (R-VA) and Mike McIntyre (D-NC) in requesting that Attorney General Eric Holder do his job.A letter to Attorney General Holder is currently being circulated to other members of Congress requesting their co-signature. Here’s where you come in. Quickly read through the letter and then contact your elected representatives and ask them to give their signature and active support to this effort. The website “Pornography Harms” has made that process easy for you. Go here.

Laws have already been put in place to protect families from the onslaught of pornography and obscenity – at least the ones we have ought to be actively enforced. Our families deserve better than what the U.S. Justice Department is currently providing.

As media has become more accessible to us, the $57 billion world wide pornography industry has crept into our homes through TV, magazines and especially the Internet.

Pornography addiction has become an ever increasing problem throughout the world. Over 40 million adults in the US regularly visit pornography sites.

However the largest consumers of Internet pornography are the 12-17 age groups, mostly while doing homework. 90% of teens have viewed pornography online, which illustrates the importance of education for parents and teens on how to tread cautiously online.

Launched this month, the PornHarms website is dedicated to “providing the most accurate peer-reviewed research on the harm from pornography, along with relevant news and opinion.” The idea for the site was created when unable to find accurate research about the troubles of pornography.

“Since the advent of the internet, pornography has flooded homes, businesses, public libraries and even schools. The results have been devastating to the social and family fabric of America,” site creator Patrick Trueman stated.

PornHarms is not the only website fighting against pornography. A non-profit group based in Utah Fight the New Drug has recently launched an international campaign for pornography addiction awareness. They compare pornography addiction to the use of hard drugs such as heroine and crystal meth.

Pornography addiction is an ever growing problem that we all need to be educated about.

From LifeSiteNews.com: Washington D.C. – On April 29, the Family Research Council (FRC) released a powerful video report on the devastating first 100 Days of the Obama presidency. The report dramatically exposes the negative impact of the Obama Administration on life, marriage, the justice system and other family issues.

“This video provides indisputable evidence of the current Administration’s hostility to the values of faith and family,” said FRC President Tony Perkins. “This President and his advisors have a very purposeful agenda, one that is seeking to take our country in a radically different direction. Mr. Obama is personally winsome, but his agenda is destructive.”

The video reveals Obama’s 1. Change for the unborn, 2. Change in the stem cell debate, 3. Change in our justice system, 4. Change for marriage, 5. Change in government spending, 6. The planned radical reduction or elimination of charitable deductions and 7. Change in the economy.

The report uses the President’s own spoken words to emphasize how the change he is bringing about is radically different from what he has led the American people to believe he would do.

The video concludes with a repeated clip of Obama’s words, “Change has come to America”, which FRC says is a radical social agenda which preys on the most vulnerable members of our society.”

President Barrack Obama is at it again. This time, instead of appointing someone who evades paying taxes, his nominee for Deputy Attorney General, David W. Ogden evades moral judgment.

Ogden, a former top aide to Attorney General Janet Reno from the Clinton era, has worked tirelessly to undermine the heart and soul of the family. Ogden has litigated on behalf of anti-life powerhouse Planned Parenthood and top pornography giants, Penthouse and Playboy; supporting the exploitation of women and children in the process. With his inherent anti-family background, it is imperative that we try to stop the Obama nomination train from coming down the track.

“The Deputy Attorney General advises and assists the Attorney General in formulating and implementing Departmental policies and programs and in providing overall supervision and direction to all organizational units of the Department. The Deputy Attorney General is authorized to exercise all the power and authority of the Attorney General, except where such power or authority is prohibited by law from delegation or has been delegated to another official. In the absence of the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General acts as the Attorney General.”

Being nominated to the position of second command of the Department of Justice means David W. Ogden will not only control the day-to-day operations of the agency, his influence will be felt in policy and rulemaking throughout the agency.

Through review of Ogden’s own written legal briefs, it is clear he has an agenda that opposes parental rights, favors abortion on demand, homosexual rights, and supports the pornography industry over children. Ogden also uses international law to override U.S. policies and believes strongly in a “compassionate and living” interpretation of
the U.S. constitution.

Ogden’s History of Anti-family Briefs

Abortion

Ogden co-authored a legal brief for the American Psychological Association arguing that parental notification was unconstitutional and limited the rights of 14-year old minors seeking an abortion.

Ogden wrote the brief for Planned Parenthood on behalf of the American Psychological Association contesting a woman’s right to know policy including the negative effects of abortion and a 24-hour waiting period. His arguments included statements that women who receive abortions have “minimal” emotional and psychological effects and that “potential psychological consequences may result from bearing a raising a child…”

Homosexuality

Ogden wrote an amicus brief for the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association and the National Association of Social Workers in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas lawsuit in where he declared that “homosexuality is a normal form of human sexuality” and defended “safe sex” education that teaches grade school children about anal and oral sex in the Bowers v. Hartwick case.

Pornography

Ogden was council for 15 library directors that opposed the Children’s Internet Protection Act of 2000. He adamantly contended that Congress was subverting the role of librarians by limiting access to all “information”. Further he represented Playboy Enterprises several times over the years always in favor of access to pornography as a constitutional right.

International Law Over U.S. Law

Ogden assails the juvenile death penalty law in the Simmons brief using international treaty language pulled directly from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, an international treaty snubbed by the United States Congress, stating that the international community does not support the death penalty for juveniles.

What You Can Do to Stop This Appointment

Call the U.S. Senate today at 202-224-3121.

Let the Senators know that approving a nominee who holds so little regard for families, life, and the well-being of children is in direct conflict to what our nation stands for.
Ask them not to approve a supporter of the pornography industry.
Tell them that under David Ogden’s leadership, our nation’s sovereignty is in jeopardy.
Tell the good Senators to do the right thing and stand for families by voting against David Ogden for U.S. Deputy Attorney General.